Other Voices: Food warnings can be over the top

THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE

Wednesday

May 2, 2018 at 2:00 AM

Scare tactics are a huge super-nanny-state overreach.

Chile — one of many nations with a swelling obesity rate — is trying to scare people thin.

It has slapped black stop-sign-shaped warning labels on high-calorie or high-fat treats like cookies, chips, salad dressings and cereals. It has banned Tony the Tiger from his cereal box front. Also banished is Cheetos’ Chester Cheetah.

Now those appetite-chilling warning labels could work their way into the U.S. How? Via a revised North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA. As part of these negotiations, officials in Mexico and Canada are discussing similar warning labels, The New York Times reports.

The Trump administration, egged on by the food industry, seeks to quash efforts to force American manufacturers to stick similar warning labels on sugar-filled drinks and fat-laden packaged foods.

NAFTA talks now have gained momentum; the Trump administration is pushing to strike a deal within days. The warning labels? The U.S. argues persuasively that such labels “inappropriately” suggest that a “hazard” exists from eating such foods.

Such labels miss the point: The obesity crisis in this country and elsewhere isn’t caused by high-calorie, high-fat, high-sugar food. It is caused by people eating too much of those foods.

Scare tactics like warning labels on food are a huge super-nanny-state overreach. We’re talking about food, not potentially toxic medicines that earn black-box labels. It’s ice cream. Chips. Doughnuts. Are there really many consumers who don’t know that baked goods and fried foods are packed with empty calories?

We’re not dissing constructive anti-obesity efforts in the U.S. and around the world. Many Americans are too fat. Childhood obesity is a major health crisis. That’s why we strongly support informational labels that tell consumers ingredients and calories of what’s inside the package or bottle. We also appreciate calorie counts on restaurant menus.